STERLING HIGH SCHOOL

STERLING HIGH SCHOOL, a rural-scale high school in STERLING, Nebraska, operated by STERLING PUBLIC SCHOOLS, educates 81 students, covering grades 7 through 12. By comparison, Nebraska's public schools average about 391 students each, so STERLING HIGH SCHOOL sits 79% smaller than that benchmark.

STERLING PUBLIC SCHOOLS comprises 2 schools with combined enrollment of 224 students; STERLING HIGH SCHOOL is among them.

Looking at the student body, STERLING HIGH SCHOOL logs that nearly all students (88%) are White. Other groups include 12% Hispanic. By comparison, Johnson County as a whole is about 79% White, so the school skews visibly more White than its surroundings.

Looking at the economic backdrop, STERLING HIGH SCHOOL records 9 full-time-equivalent teachers, putting the student-to-teacher ratio at about 9.5:1. Statewide, the average ratio sits near 10.6:1, putting STERLING HIGH SCHOOL tighter than the state norm the norm. An estimated 36% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, which schools and policymakers use as a rough income-mix signal. By comparison, Johnson County runs at roughly 51%, so the school's eligibility rate is lower than the surrounding baseline.

On a residual basis (actual vs predicted given the student mix), STERLING HIGH SCHOOL performs roughly as the BeatsExpectations model predicts for a school with this FRL share. The predicted value is around 63.8%, the actual is 63.0%, a residual of -0.8 points.

Across the wider county, census data for Johnson County shows median household earnings sit near $57,632, 18% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, and roughly 6% of residents live below the federal poverty line. STERLING HIGH SCHOOL is one of 6 public schools in Johnson County (combined enrollment of about 724 students).

Nearest neighbor: STERLING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, around 0.0 miles off. 3 of the 8 nearest public schools sit inside a ten-mile radius, suggesting a relatively low-density school footprint. Among the 7 schools in that immediate cluster with test data (this one included), STERLING HIGH SCHOOL ranks 4th on composite proficiency, below the local average of 63.3%.

The school occupies a rural site.

Over the past 7-year window. Looking back 7 years, enrollment at STERLING HIGH SCHOOL has contracted 7%, going from 87 students in 2018 to 81 in 2025. Over the same period, the Hispanic share edged up from 2% to 12%. The student-to-teacher ratio rose from 8.0:1 in 2018 to 9.5:1 today.

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